Warren
Buffett
and
Greg
Abel
during
the
Berkshire
Hathaway
Annual
Shareholders
Meeting
in
Omaha,
Nebraska
on
May
4,
2024.
CNBC
Berkshire
Hathaway
Chairman
and
CEO
Warren
Buffett
on
Saturday
addressed
losses
tied
to
bets
on
Paramount
Global,
as
well
as
his
reasoning
behind
slashing
the
company’s
Apple
stake
by
13%.
Buffett
opined
that
trimming
the
company’s
stake
in
Apple
was
in
part
due
to
tax
reasons
after
the
stock
roared
in
2023.
“It
doesn’t
bother
me
in
the
least
to
write
that
check
and
I
would
really
hope
with
all
that
America’s
done
for
all
of
you,
it
shouldn’t
bother
you
that
we
do
it,”
Buffett
said.
“And
if
I’m
doing
it
at
21%
this
year
and
we’re
doing
it
a
little
higher
percentage
later
on,
I
don’t
think
you’ll
actually
mind
the
fact
that
we
sold
a
little
Apple
this
year.”
Buffett
also
noted
he
unloaded
Berkshire’s
entire
position
in
Paramount
Global
—
and
took
full
responsibility
for
the
loss.
“It
was
100%
my
decision,
and
we’ve
sold
it
all
and
we
lost
quite
a
bit
of
money,”
Buffett
said.
The
firm
owned
63.3
million
shares
of
Paramount
at
the
end
of
2023
after
slashing
the
position
by
roughly
one-third
in
the
fourth
quarter
of
last
year.
Here
are
some
of
the
best
quotes
from
Buffett
on
some
of
Berkshire’s
top
holdings.
Coca-Cola,
Apple
Buffett
said
Apple
and
Coca-Cola
will
remain
premier
holdings
in
Berkshire’s
portfolio.
“That’s
the
story
of
why
we
own
American
Express,
which
is
a
wonderful
business.
We
own
Coca-Cola,
which
is
a
wonderful
business,”
Buffett
said.
“And
we
own
Apple,
which
is
an
even
better
business,
and
we
will
own,
unless
something
really
extraordinary
happens,
we
will
own
Apple
and
American
Express
and
Coca-Cola.”
American
Express
The
“Oracle
of
Omaha”
highlighted
credit
card
firm
American
Express
as
another
favorite,
noting
the
company’s
growing
position
in
the
consumer
credit
sector.
“I
can’t
really
think
of
a
company
like
American
Express
that
has
a
position
and
a
credit
card
that
is
extremely
strong,”
Buffett
said.
“It
has
strengthened
dramatically
over
the
last
20
years
for
a
lot
of
reasons.”
BYD
Buffett
credited
longtime
partner
Charlie
Munger,
who
died
in
November,
for
his
call
to
buy
both
Chinese
manufacturing
company
BYD
and
wholesale
retailer
Costco
—
but
wished
he
took
a
larger
stake
in
Costco.
Berkshire
no
longer
owns
a
position
in
Costco.
“Charlie,
twice,
pounded
the
table
with
me
and
said
‘buy,
buy,
buy’
and
BYD
was
one
of
them
and
Costco
was
the
other.
We
bought
a
certain
amount
of
Costco
and
bought
quite
a
bit
of
BYD,
but
looking
back,
he
already
wasn’t
as
aggressive,
but
I
should
have
been
more
aggressive
in
Costco,”
Buffett
said.
“It
wasn’t
fatal
that
we
weren’t
but
[Munger]
was
right
big-time
in
both
companies.”
Cash
and
Treasurys
Buffett
told
Berkshire
investors
on
Saturday
that
the
company’s
cash
stake
hoard
could
climb
to
$200
billion
by
the
end
of
the
current
quarter.
“I
don’t
mind
at
all
under
current
conditions
building
the
cash
position.
When
I
look
at
what’s
available
in
equity
markets
and
the
composition
of
what’s
going
on
in
the
world,
we
find
it
quite
attractive,”
the
investor
said.
“Our
cash
and
Treasury
bills
were
$182
billion
at
the
quarter
end,
and
I
think
it’s
a
fair
assumption
that
they’ll
probably
be
at
about
$200
billion
at
the
end
of
this
quarter.”
